Petrichor
by FracturedRoses
Summary: Kakashi looked up to the sky as the first pitter patter of rain drops fell onto the metal plate of his headband. The banquet of flowers fell limply out of his hands onto the small, bare grave. "She always loved the smell of rain." He said as the clouds began to rumble. Kakashi/Oc KakashixOc
1. Care Taker

She _hated_ them

The happy little people walking down the street outside her window, basking in the sun and wasting precious oxygen with talk of petty problems—they were so _ungrateful_. Those mothers with their fat children, whose distended stomachs jumbled like rats fighting in a burlap sack. They cried over replaceable toys as their mothers wiped the snot from their noses and cooed promises of materialistic goods.

"_Disgusting,"_ she rasped, as she felt oxygen push into her lungs again.

But what she hated most were the people who looked at her with pity. They took one look at her in her oxygen mask and immediately, these plastic people were enlightened to the mindset of a winged saint, their saliva turning sickly sweet as words they perceived as _compassionate sympathy_ came rolling from their tongues at her in cold, clammy waves.

Gekido never asked to be a martyr. She didn't need people to apologize to her for having gotten the short end of the stick in life.

_They can all take their sympathy and choke on it,_ she thought bitterly.

She readjusted her mask and wheeled her chair in the direction of her room, passing by the living room where her meek, jumpy parents were talking to the Nohara girl about her nonexistent progress. She ignored their game of make believe and rolled forward into her bedroom, pulling over to her dresser and opening the middle drawer. She pulled out a bulky turtleneck and rolled over to her nightstand where a bottle of tasteless, clear lubricant lay capped. Gekido held her breath as she unstrapped the oxygen mask and tugged it off, the tube in her throat sliding out, stimulating her gag reflex.

"Gekido! What are you doing?"

Rin stood in the doorway, watching Gekido struggle with the shirt like a small child, her arms tangled with the sleeves, hissing violent curses like an enraged snake. Rin hurried over and tugged the shirt down, smiling at Gekido's unhappy face as it popped through the neck hole.

"Good morning."

Gekido wrinkled her nose. "_Go di_—"

She began to cough and wheeze violently.

Rin gasped and reached over. She grabbed the oxygen mask and lubricant, popping the cap off and squirting a generous amount of gel onto the tube before lifting her chin with her thumb and her fingers in a crab claw shape.

"You know you can't speak without your mask!"

Rin gently allowed the tube to slip down Gekido's throat before securing the mask straps at the back of her head.

Gekido spluttered. "_I don't need your help!"_

Rin frowned, rubbing Gekido's back as she coughed violently once more. "You shouldn't be shouting either."

_"Shut up!"_

Rin sighed and screwed the cap back onto the lubricant, setting it down on the night table and grabbing a hairbrush. She giggled as she ran the brush through the tangled mess of black hair. It looked like someone had smashed a crow with a bat and glued it and all its fallen feathers to Gekido's head.

"Bad hair day?"

Gekido growled and Rin returned the glower with a closed eyed smile. After smoothing out her thin hair she secured it into two low pig tails tied with pink ribbons.

"You look so cute."

_"Bite me."_

Rin walked around to the back of the wheelchair and checked the oxygen tanks attached to the back. She tapped the meter and read the dial.

"Your tank is low, I guess we get to take a field trip to the hospital today!" Rin chirped.

_"Oh goody."_

"Maybe we'll stop and get some ramen on the way back."

Gekido groaned.

"What is it?"

_"Your fool of a comrade frequents there."_

"Obito?" Rin giggled.

_"Yes, the Uchiha failure,"_ she spat.

Rin wheeled the chair out of the bedroom and towards the front door.

"Obito may be goofy but he's not a failure," she said softly.

_"Could've fooled me."_

Gekido's mother, who had been washing dishes, saw them heading for the front door and stopped them. After Rin informed her of their "_field trip_" her mother checked to make sure Rin packed all the medications and then draped a hand-crocheted blanket over Gekido's legs before waving them off with a nervous smile.

"Bye Mrs. Satsu! We'll be back by noon!"

"You two have fun! Don't push yourself too hard my little gecko!"

Gekido's cheeks turned slightly pink and she turned away from her mother.

_"She knows I hate that nickname...dumb woman." _

"She just calls you that because she loves you," Rin told her. "I think it's cute."

_"Whatever. If She really loved me she wouldn't confine me to this stupid thing."_

"She's concerned about your health Gekido."

_"I may be weak, but I can fucking walk."_

"Language." She tsked.

_"Fuck you."_

* * *

"You should be more cheerful, it's a nice day after all!" Rin smiled as she watched a pair of small fluffy birds swirl around each other in the powder blue sky. Gekido's form went stiff and she turned her head to stare maliciously into Rin's soft brown eyes.

_"Rin, have you ever had to live with a tube in your throat for two years?"_

"No—"

_"Have you ever had to listen to a doctor say you have a couple years to live?"_

"No, but—"

_"Then don't ask me to be cheerful, you fucking idiot."_

Rin frowned deeply and sighed.

Their walk instantly became silent, and Gekido liked it that way. Rin had been her caretaker for many years. She wasn't expected to live past six years old so the medic ninja trainee was assigned to her because nobody wanted to waste money on a soon-to-be-dead child. Gekido lived, and thus stuck with miss perfect ever since. She'd never known whether to be grateful for living or regretful that she missed the opportunity to croak.

_It's almost cruel_, she thought to herself.

Rin was perfect, she was graceful and moved with the wind, and yet she could be strong and rigid when needed to be. She was kind, even to Gekido, a hollowed out bitter shell of a child and had the perk to sometimes even lighten her dismal mood. Rin was also, painstakingly, beautiful and even the Uchiha failure, who was too stupid to even tell his ass from his elbow could attest to that. She was everything Gekido had wanted to be when she was young, before they shoved life down her throat through a plastic tube.

As Gekido observed her she began to notice that Rin had a lovely neck, it was pale and smooth and completely absent of a tube bulging beneath it. She rubbed her own enlarged throat and felt a burst of envy erupt in her feeble chest.

_Damn you…damn you, damn you, damn you!_

Rin noticed her staring. "Is there something on my face?"

_"Only those two blocks on your cheeks, they look fucking stupid."_

Rin rubbed the purple markings.

"RIN!"

Gekido watched as Obito Uchiha raced over from a dango stand to his beloved teammate with hearts in his eyes. As he neared he made eye contact with Gekido in her chair and instantly all the the evidence of cloud nine in his eyes vanished, replaced with a deep frown and a glare. He came to a stop in front of her and the stare off commenced. Kakashi walked up behind him.

"Hello Rin."

Rin instantly blushed a bright pink and smiled. "Hello Kakashi."

Both Gekido and Obito turned to glare at the pair.

Obito pushed in front of Kakashi and offered her his dango.

"I know you're not fond of it but it's really good, I bought an extra one for you." He flashed his megawatt smile.

_"How sweet,"_ Gekido commented.

"I'd love to join you two, but Geki-chan and I need to go to the hospital and I promised I'd spend the day with her."

Gekido looked at her suspiciously from the corner of her eye.

_Since when did you promise anything?_

Obito's face fell and a gray cloud seemed to envelope his demeanor while Kakashi apathetically watched the rejection play out.

"We really should be heading out," Rin said to her, then looked back to her teammates. "I'll hang out with you tomorrow."

Like a flower in sunshine Obito's posture went straight and his cheery and happy-go-lucky attitude returned. It made Gekido want to vomit.

Rin pushed the wheelchair forward. Gekido slouched in her seat, her boney hands reaching up to the pink ribbons and ripping them from their place. She threw them over the arm of the chair and Rin watched as they floated to the dirt.

Rin stopped to pick them up, much to Gekido's disdain, and she placed them in her pocket and made a mental note to leave them on her night table before she left.

"Are you feeling ok?"

_"Besides the disease rampaging around and eating me from the inside out, just peachy."_

The biting remark left a wound on Rin as Gekido continued to stare down all the passersby who sent her pitying looks. She was ready to snap at the first person who dared to open their mouth and utter the words "Oh you poor thing."

The primal darkness in Gekido's iris-less mint green eyes made even the maggots living in the eye sockets of the dead scurry away. The bitterness cultivated inside her half-eaten chest over a span of four years had manifested into an invisible, poisonous smog that leeched the life out of everyone brave enough to stick around and brace the biting cold of her sharp tongued rebuttals. Even Rin, as kind and caring as she could be, could easily run out of energy depending on how much Gekido hated the world that particular morning.

* * *

The Leaf Village hospital stood tall in all its sanitary glory, Rin wheeled the chair up the ramp next to the steps and pushed open the transparent double doors, helping Gekido wheel herself in.

"Hello," the woman at the front desk greeted.

"Hi Naomi, is Dr. Takahashi in?"

"Yes, he's right down the hall in the faculty room. He's on his coffee break."

Rin thanked her and wheeled the muttering Gekido down the hall.

Dr. Takahashi smiled at Gekido with warm eyes over the brim of his coffee mug when they entered and she returned his delighted stare with a glower that could curdle milk.

"Good morning, Sunshine."

Gekido's fingers clenched around the arms of wheelchair as the good doctor walked over and ruffled her hair.

"How are we feeling today?"

_"Like I'm dying."_

The doctor just smiled and walked them to his office, making small talk along the way. The office smelled of paper and the airy scent of rubbing alcohol. The good doctor grabbed his stethoscope, wearing it like a necklace. Gekido frowned. Every time her medicated oxygen needed to be refilled, she was required, by her doctor, to have a health examination.

_"Rin already gave me a checkup,"_ she grumbled.

"Well it doesn't hurt to double check," he said and flashed a cheesy smile.

He reached out to her, his hands cupping beneath her armpits and helping her stand out of her chair. He guided her over the scale where he gently released his support and allowing her to stand on her own. Rin stood next to her in case she should collapse.

"How are you feeling?" the doctor asked again.

_"This is a lot harder than I remember it,"_ Gekido gritted out, her legs wobbling over the scale.

The doctor hummed and jotted down her weight before setting down the clipboard and helping her back into her chair. He stuck the ear tips of the stethoscope into his ears and grabbed the diaphragm.

"Now we're going to listen to your breathing. I need you to lean forward."

Gekido did so and the doctor kneeled down next to her.

"It's going to be a little cold, ok?"

_"Just do it."_

He snaked his arm up the back of her shirt and placed the ice cold diaphragm to her skin.

"Take a deep breath."

Gekido inhaled through her mouth and exhaled slowly. He moved the stethoscope and told her to breathe again. They did this several times before the diaphragm was removed from her back.

"Your breathing sounds a little shallow."

_"Gee, I wonder why?"_

He ignored her and scribbled down something else on his clipboard.

"Have you been feeling any pains in your heart?"

_"No."_

"Any dizziness or disorientation?"

_"No."_

"How about headaches?"

_"No."_

He scribbled her answers down.

"Ok, now here's what I'm going to do." He wrote something down on a prescription paper and gave it to Rin. He turned to her once more. "I'm going to up the medication a little bit. It might feel a little funny when you breathe it in at first but that's perfectly normal and should go away in about an hour or two."

_"Great. More funny gas."_

"Thank you Doctor Takahashi." Rin waved to him as she wheeled Gekido out of the room.

_"I hate him."_

"It wasn't that bad and it wasn't even that long."

_"If he ever flashes his pearly whites at me again I'll knock them out."_

"No you won't."

_"Watch me,"_ she growled.

"Oh Gekido," Rin sighed." What am i going to do with you?"

_"If the good doctor is right you'll be burying me in a year."_

* * *

**Thank you to my beta :xLilim for your time and effort :3**

**Plz review, constructive criticism is welcomed.**


	2. Peaches

_Bitch._

That was the only thing Gekido could think of as she sat in her hot chair watching Rin and her friends dash around the open field attacking their sensei with their jutsus and weapons. She clenched the blanket over her legs in her shaking fist as she watched the trio, the familiar burn of envy erupting in her chest as a memory played in her mind.

_"Mommy, I want to be a ninja!"_

_Her mother giggled at the younger Gekido running around with a belt for a headband. "You better clean up your room then. A good ninja is a clean ninja."_

_Gekido pouted. "But I don't want to."_

_ "Then I guess you can't be a ninja," she teased._

_Gekido groaned. "I don't need a clean room to be a ninja. All I need is a kunai and I'll be the best ninja the world has ever seen!"_

_ "Really?"_

_ "Yes!"_

_ "How are you going to get a kunai then?"_

_Gekido paused in thought before turning to her mother with big puppy eyes. "Could you get me one? Please?"_

_ "Well, I don't see why not."_

_ "Yes!"_

_ "As long as you clean your room."_

_ "Aw, come on!"_

Gekido pulled the old kunai out from underneath her blanket and watched it glint in the sun. The sick realization had dawned on her long ago that this sharpened piece of steel was the closest thing she would ever come to being a shinobi.

She stared at her own haggard reflection and frowned, disgusted by her own image. She hated herself, her body and its inability to fulfill the only dream she'd ever had.

_I hate this…_

"Gekido!" Rin shouted cheerfully as she jogged over sweaty and smiling. "How are you feeling?"

_"How a turkey feels when you gut it and shove it in an oven."_

Rin frowned at the image. "Here, let me put you in the shade."

Rin walked around to the back of Gakidos chair and pushed her into the shade of a large tree closer to where Minato was talking to Kakashi and Obito.

"Better?"

_"Slightly."_

"That's a relief."

Rin reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small white box, she picked up Gekido's boney hand and placed the box in her palm.

"Here."

Gekido studied the cube suspiciously. _"What is it?"_

"It's a present."

She looked up at Rin in alarm. _"How did you—"_

"Your mother told me."

Gekido glared at her lap. _"Damn that woman!"_

Rin giggled. "Open it."

Gekido stared at the box a moment before gingerly picking apart the flaps on the top and digging into the tissue paper. She retracted her hand and sitting in her palm was a small colorful key chain.

_"...A bull?"_

"I know it's not much but I saw it walking down the street through the shop window and I immediately thought of you."

She glared at Rin. _"Are you implying that I am physically bovine?"_

"No no no, not at all, just that…_well_…." She grinned sheepishly. "You're kind of bullheaded. You'll continue to argue for your cause even after it's been proven wrong a dozen times over."

Gekido stared into the chestnut eyes of the figurine.

"It's always been something I kind of admired about you."

_Rin? Miss perfect Rin admired something about me?_ she thought to herself.

_"...It's a fucking joke."_ She spoke in a small, frosty voice.

Even though Gekido despised every human being on the planet, including herself, Rin considered her a dear friend. Like bracing against the winds of a blizzard, Rin tried to numb herself to the bitter remark but to no avail. It hurt to have someone you consider close constantly hate you.

Rin reached out. "Here, I'll take it back."

Gekido curled her fist around the figurine and held it close to her chest.

_"No," _she said defiantly.

She looked up into Rin's eye and for the first time in years, she felt a twinge of regret. Rin met her stare with one of confusion.

"You don't have to keep it if you don't like it. I'll take it back."

Gekido looked down at the charm in her cupped hand. _"No."_

"Why?"

_"None of your business. Now leave it alone."_

From a distance, Minato watched the exchange with a secret smile on his face.

"What's so funny, sensei?" asked Obito.

"Nothing Obito. Rin just has some interesting friends."

"She has some rude friends," he muttered.

"You're one to talk."

"Shut up, Kakashi!"

* * *

"Ew."

"Do you always have to be such an ass?"

"Hey that's just gross."

Gekido glared at Obito as Rin helped pull the oxygen mask and the tube out of her mouth and throat. He visibly shuddered as a mixture of lube and saliva slid down her chin. Minato and Rin were both looking at Obito's rude gestures disapprovingly and Kakashi continued to insult him while smoothly eating his ramen.

"Obito, stop it," said Rin, who sat next to the fuming Gekido.

"I think I'm going to lose my lunch." Obito covered his mouth with his hand just as he began to gag.

"If It's so disturbing to you then don't look," Kakashi commented.

"How can you not look? She's right there all covered in—" He gagged.

Just to spite him, Gekido opened her mouth wide and let the saliva spill down her chin some more. Obito shot up from the table and ran towards the bathrooms. A minute later retching could be heard.

Minato sighed. "I'm so sorry for his behavior," he apologized. "He doesn't realize the severity of his words."

_"No, idiots often don't," _she hissed.

Rin rubbed Gekido's back supportively.

She sighed. "He just likes to run his mouth."

Gekido scoffed and slapped Rin's hand away.

_"Don't touch me; I don't need your pity,"_ she spat.

Minato studied Gekido's thin, wispy limbs with sad eyes. He didn't blame her for being so abrasive, but so much hatred and bitterness was locked up inside her tiny, decaying body that he could see her shaking.

She reached forward and grabbed the bottle of habanero seasoning.

"Hey!" Rin shouted. "You're not supposed to eat stuff like that!"

_"Screw you, I'll eat what I want,"_ she rasped.

Rin tried to snatch the seasoning. "It'll hurt your throat!"

Gekido used her thin arm as a shield against Rin's chest as she unscrewed the cap with her teeth. She shook the container over her ramen and Rin's face fell.

"Gekido!"

_"Shut up! I don't want to hear it!"_ she snapped.

"You two are loud," said a queasy Obito as he trudged over to his seat with his hand on his stomach. He slumped into his seat next to Minato and looked at Gekido.

"I didn't even know you could shout."

_"There's a lot of things you seem to not know,"_ she mocked, taking a bite of her seasoned ramen while Obito stared pointedly at the saliva covered oxygen mask with an uneasy frown.

Out of the corner of her eye, Gekido saw him shudder.

_"Pathetic,"_ she muttered and continued to eat.

"For once, I agree with you," said Kakashi after swallowing a mouthful of noodles.

"Hey! At least I don't need an inhaler to eat!"

"But she isn't a crybaby," Kakashi interjected.

"Neither am I!"

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not!"

"Crybaby. You cried this morning."

"I told you I got dust in my eyes!"

"You can't get dust in your eyes with goggles on."

"Shut up!"

"Boys please, can't we eat in peace?" pleaded Minato

"Not until they both apologize!"

Gekido looked like a cat that had its tail stomped on, her hands froze in the air and the look in her eyes as she narrowed them at Obito was unlike anything Rin had ever seen before. The rage in her green orbs was unparalleled.

_"I will never apologize to someone weaker than myself."_

Kakashi nodded in agreement and for a moment the table was dead silent, the clanking of chopsticks against porcelain bowls absent in the electrified air. Minato tensed as quiet sniffling was heard. Obito dashed from the table, his sniffling could be heard as he ran out the restaurant doors.

"Obito!" cried Rin, who immediately shot up and ran after him.

Kakashi scoffed. "Shinobi don't cry."

Minato fixed his stare firmly on the remaining pair. "You know that was out of line."

"As a shinobi he shouldn't be emotional. Emotions will get in the way of the mission."

"We aren't on a mission. We are eating in a restaurant, Kakashi."

Gekido, who was ignoring the conversation, pushed her empty bowl away and grabbed the tube of cool gel and began to unscrew the cap. She might as well have lit up a neon arrow above her head because it immediately drew Minato's attention to her.

_"Don't even—"_

"Gekido, you are just as responsible as Kakashi."

_"Don't care."_

"You should care. Pushing everyone away from yourself isn't a way to live."

_"Shut up."_

"You know, if you gave him a chance I bet you'd make great friends."

_"Never. I don't associate with idiots."_

"Intelligence isn't everything."

_"But it certainly contributes, doesn't it?"_

"You're a difficult one, aren't you?"

_"Just because I have high standards doesn't mean I'm difficult."_

"It makes you a little difficult."

_"Asking for good company does not make me difficult."_

"You're right. If you stopped and looked once in a while you'd see you already have it, nothing difficult about that at all." He smiled genuinely at her.

Gekido held his stare for a minute before shaking her head and proceeding to dip the oxygen tube down her throat, mentally laughing at the "_prodigy_" Kakashi who slightly cringed as her throat enlarged.

_Weakling,_ she thought to herself.

Rin came rushing towards their table.

"Minato-sensei!"

"What's wrong?" he asked alerted.

"It's Obito, he was running and-and—" She stumbled over her words as she tried to catch her breath.

Minato stood up from his seat as Rin continued fumbling something about Obito being pummeled by some guys for running into them.

"Kakashi, take Gekido home!"

"Yes, sensei." Kakashi stood after Minato dashed out of the restaurant and began to help Gekido out of the seat and into her wheelchair.

_"I can lift myself!"_

"This is faster."

Gekido huffed but said nothing more.

* * *

The silence was stagnant as Kakashi pushed the wheelchair through the crowded streets. In the orange glow of the setting sun, as Kakashi caught a whiff of peach-scented shampoo from Gekido's hair, for the first time he was made painfully aware that even though she spit and cursed like a mule with a thorn in its hoof, she was a girl. Albeit a very small, mean girl, but a girl nonetheless. Her sallow cheeks were framed by the unruly black tendrils of hair atop her head and he could see the faint outline of her pale lips reddened by the spice in her ramen. If Kakashi had not been as far down in denial as he was, he would even say she was—

_"Stop staring or I'll rip out all of your stupid white hair!"_

As if she had been reading his mind, she caught his stare and threatened him venomously, reminding him that she wasn't all berries and sunshine like Rin was. She was the exact opposite, and as cuddly as a pissed off porcupine.

"I wasn't staring. I just noticed your mask strap was loose."

_"Whatever."_

Kakashi reached down and pulled on the strap, her hair brushing across his thumb and reminding him of the velvet in a daimyo's palanquin.

_Stay focused Kakashi,_ he thought to himself and retrieved his hand.

Her house was small, the porch being decorated with small orange lanterns and several wind chimes, all varying in size.

_"Welcome to hell."_

"It's homey."

Kakashi wheeled Gekido up the makeshift ramp next to their steps and knocked on the front door. There was a shuffle and a cry of, "Just a minute!" before the door swung open and Gekido's mom stepped out.

"Oh, little gecko your home!" Her mother smiled sweetly and leaned down to peck her daughter's cheeks.

_"Get off me, vile wretch!"_

Her mother just giggled.

"Thank you for bringing her home—uh…"

"Kakashi," he answered.

"Kakashi, thank you."

"Don't mention it."

Her mother squealed. "Ohh, I never thought I'd see the day a _boy_ brought my baby home!"

Kakashi and Gekido both froze before they collaboratively tried to set the record straight.

"I was just—"

_"Rin's idiot friend got in trouble—"_

"My sensei and Rin left to help my idiot teammate—"

_"Minato made him—"_

"My sensei ordered me to—"

_"Take me home."_

"Escort her home." They finished at the same time.

"Uh huh" Gekido's mother said and ushered her daughter in their home, but both Kakashi and Gekido noticed that mischievous twinkle in her eyes never left.

"You can come in and rest if you want, Kakashi."

Still frazzled from the looming threat of being labeled as Gekido's boyfriend, Kakashi jumped internally at the invitation like it physically electrocuted him.

"No, thank you. I need to catch up with my team. Knowing Obito, he's probably knee deep in trouble." He sighed and turned to look at Gekido.

"Happy birthday, by the way." With that, he dashed into the trees.

Gekido's mom exhaled contentedly.

"He's a nice boy."

_"Don't start."_

* * *

**THANK YOU TO MY BETA!**

**Hopefully i've kept everyone in character for you! :3**

**Please review, you have no idea how much i appreciate your constructive criticism and positive feedback!**


	3. The Bath House

Gekido stared at the charm Rin had given her, glinting in the light of her living room, while her mother cleaned and chattered on in the background.

"Where did you eat yesterday?" her mother asked.

_"Some ramen place,"_ replied Gekido.

"That wouldn't be Ichiraku's, would it?"

_"No, that opens next week."_

"Oh...well, how was the food?"

_"Fine."_

There was a temporary silence.

"So, that Kakashi boy..."

_"Mother..."_

"I'm just saying!" her mother clamored. "He was a cute boy, you seem to like him."

_"I don't _like_ anyone," _answered Gekido.

"Oh, come now Gekido, after he dropped you off yesterday you were the happiest I've ever seen you in a while."

_"I was happy because I was away from those idiots."_

"Mm-hm." That mischievous twinkle was in her eyes again.

Gekido ignored her. She clipped the bull charm onto a length of string and tied the ends of the string together. She slipped the string over her head and wore the charm as a necklace.

_It's not so bad…_ she thought, tucking the necklace beneath the neckline of her yellow kimono.

Her mother eyed her wardrobe, ready to gush. "That's such a nice color on you!"

_"It's ok."_

Her mother smoothed away the hair from Gekido's forehead and kissed her head, a peach pink decorated Gekido's cheeks.

"You look beautiful."

_"I look average."_

"Have more confidence in yourself, guys like that in a woman."

_"I have no one to impress."_

"Well, Kakashi—"

_"There is nothing between me and Kakashi!"_

Kakashi and Gekido were acquaintances at best, both exchanging few words and only when establishing a truce against the common enemy: Obito. She had no grudges against him as of yet, but that didn't mean she was ready to be buddy-buddy with someone who thought they were better than everyone else. They may have shared a bitterness towards society, but Gekido didn't think she was better than everyone else.

_"Kakashi is arrogant. He's in love with his own reflection."_

"He's still young, dear. Give him a few years, he'll mature."

_"He'll age like milk," _she growled.

Gekido's mother laughed and patted her shoulder. "Just wait a few years and you'll see."

There was a knock on the door and Gekido's mother walked over to open it.

"Oh Rin, it's so nice to see you!"

"Good morning, Mrs. Satsu."

She moved aside to let Rin walk in and Gekido's mood instantly darkened.

Rin smiled. "Hello, Gekido."

_"What are you doing here? Have you forgotten you have the day off?"_

"I'm not here to work. My team and I were heading over to the hot springs and I wanted to ask you to come with us."

Rin seemed almost nervous standing in Gekido's living room, her hands were fiddling with each other and her smile was tight. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out Rin was scared of Gekido's rejection. Why she was afraid of it, however, remained a mystery.

Gekido thought in the silence for a minute. _"I'll go with you."_

Rin brightened and Gekido could see the mental parade going on in her brain. "Great! You sit here and I'll go get your stuff!"

Rin dashed around Gekido and down the hall.

"That was nice of you," her mother said.

_"She better not get used to it. I'm not a fucking charity."_

"Language, Gecko."

_"Sorry mother."_

* * *

Rin was as chipper as a squirrel in an acorn tree as she pushed Gekido alongside a placid Kakashi and a sulking Obito. Obito wouldn't even look at her and she liked it that way. Meanwhile, Minato held a cheery conversation with Rin. Gekido leaned against her hand and looked at Kakashi from the corner of her eye.

_I don't know what my mother sees in him,_ she thought, huffing.

In her eyes, Kakashi was someone who would cause their own downfall. Pride was a double-edged sword and Kakashi was wielding it in all the wrong ways. Physically, Kakashi wasn't what she would picture as handsome, but the way she weighed Kakashi on the handsome scale to her mother was, _"I'd choose him over Obito any day, but if we were the last humans on earth I'd rather let the species die," _and the subject was dropped after that.

_Besides, next to someone with Rin's beauty I'm sure he'd definitely wouldn't choose someone who is terminally ill and anorexic looking,_ she thought as she gnashed her teeth together.

It wasn't long until the big bold letters of Konoha Hot Springs were slapping Gekido in the face and as the group was splitting and heading for their bathhouses, the green beast of Konoha descended upon them.

"Kakashi, my rival! We meet again!"

Gekido's lip curled as the abomination wrapped in green spandex and idiocy approach them with too much vigor.

_"Might Gai,"_ she hissed.

Gai turned his bug eyes to her. "Why, Gekido, you're looking particularly youthful today."

_"Go jump in a lake."_

"No thanks, I already swam laps today." The smile he shot her almost blinded her.

_His teeth are like mirrors,_ Gekido thought as she shielded her eyes with her hand. _"Why couldn't you sink to the bottom of the ocean and stay there?"_

"Because I don't practice underwater endurance until Friday."

_"That's not what I meant, you fu-"_

"I don't have time for you today Gai," Kakashi inserted before Gekido could finish.

Pissed off, Gekido began to wheel herself towards the women's bathhouse without waiting for Rin to follow.

"Hey! Wait!" Rin scrambled after her. "Where are you going?"

_"Away from him."_

If there was anyone she would consider more annoying than Obito and his tears, it would be Gai and his cries of youth. The green spandex was revolting enough, but due to his constant need for _exercises_ and _challenges_ he always reeked of "youthful sweat" and Gekido was not sticking around to get a whiff.

_"I didn't come here to converse with apes."_

"You could at least—"

_"No."_

She wheeled herself into the undressing room and began to unwrap her kimono. Rin staggered behind her, leaning against the door frame to catch her breath.

_"If this tired you out, then you must not be training hard enough."_

"We've been training all morning actually."

Gekido ignored her as she continued to undress. Rin walked up beside her and began to undress as well. As she pulled her shirt off something on Gekido's chest glinted in the light and attracted her attention.

"Hey." Rin reached forward and picked up the bull charm between her fingers. "I thought you hated this."

Gekido ripped it from her grasp and hid the necklace in the folds of the kimono, ignoring Rin's questioning stare. She tossed the folded kimono into one of the little cubbies of the room along with her sandals and began to undo her chest bindings.

"Why do you bind your chest?"

_"None of your business."_

But as the chest binding unraveled it became obvious to Rin why.

"Oh…I didn't realize—"

_"Don't. Say. Another. Word."_

Pale mounds of flesh bounced in the open air as the last of the bindings were released. Gekido wasn't over endowed, but she certainly wasn't flat. Rin felt a little self-conscious about her own chest now that Gekido's ample bosom was out in the open and she turned around and undressed, hiding her smaller chest beneath her towel.

Gekido stood with shaky legs, leaning against her chair looking at Rin expectantly. _"This oxygen tank won't lift itself."_

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Rin rushed over. She unhooked the large tank from its place and lifted the heavy tank, cradling it in her arms.

Gekido turned and wobbled towards the sliding door like a newborn foal. Everyone looked up as she slid the door open and walked through, Rin following behind closely with the oxygen tank. The stares quickly turned into pitiful glances as soon as her oxygen mask was spotted.

_And this is why I don't go in public…_

Had it not been her way of apologizing to Rin about the charm she had given her, she would have walked right back out that door and never looked back.

Rin followed her over to an empty section of the hot spring and lowered the tank onto the ground. Gekido discarded her towel on a bench and gently eased her way into the steaming pool of water.

Rin was watching her every move to make sure she was physically able to lower herself before deciding to join her. Rin smiled at Gekido's content face.

"This is nice," Rin sighed.

Gekido agreed and dipped down lower so the water line reach just above her chest. She sighed and cleared her mind. Beside her, Rin was covering her chest with her arms.

_"Why are your hands over your chest?"_

"I hurt my chest during training," she lied.

_"Great story, now tell me the truth."_

"That is the truth."

_"No, it's not."_

"Yes, it is."

_"Rin, you can't lie to me."_

Rin bit her lip. "…It's nothing."

_"Then uncover your chest, stupid."_

Slowly Rin did so and the subject was dropped.

Gekido leaned against the edge of the hot springs, letting her head rest on the cool ground and made a mental note to come to the hot springs more often. Her weak muscles, sore from her constant battle with disease, were slowly relaxing and untightening while she soaked in the hot water.

Next to her, Rin was also starting to unwind, the tension from training was draining from her body but the silence permeating the air was bothering her. Rin opened her mouth but had nothing to say. She struggled to come up with a good conversation starter and racked her brain for anything that could stimulate her friend mentally enough to keep her talking.

"…So, Kakashi is graduating to Jounin soon."

_"Great, another reason for him to be a dick," _Gekido grumbled.

"Gekido, he's not that bad."

_"You only say that because you like him."_

'Well, sure I do, he's my friend."

_"That's not what I meant. You're attracted to him."_

"W-well I—" Her face began to redden and she stumbled over her words, "Yes, I do find him to be...attractive."

Gekido scoffed. _"I don't know what you think is so great about Kakashi Hatake."_

Her voice became syrupy, "He's handsome, strong, confident, and he can be sweet."

_"There's a difference between confidence and arrogance."_

"He might toot his own horn but he has a right to, he's incredibly gifted."

_"Kiss his ass why don't you."_

"Gekido, you're too harsh on him," Rin chided

_"You're too lenient."_

Rin giggled. "You don't like any boys do you?"

_"The male gender is inferior and therefore is unnecessary."_

"How will you ever get a boyfriend if you keep thinking that way?"

_"I don't need a man."_

"So, you don't want a first kiss? To get married? Or have a family?"

_"No kids, not if they're going to end up like me."_

"It's possible they could be born completely healthy, you never know."

_"Or they could be born like me."_

"Look at your parents, they're healthy. Doesn't that give you hope that maybe your kids will be born without the disease?"

_"My mother wasn't sick when she had me. Mothers can easily pass diseases to fetuses."_

"But there's a good chance you won't! Your case is extremely rare."

_"Rare? Is that what they call it? I'm not a _rare_ case, I'm the only case."_

"Which means you have a good chance of being the only case, even if you decide to have children," Rin argued.

_"I won't risk it,"_ Gekido replied. _"Besides, I'm enough of a cancer to my parents; I won't put that responsibility on my husband or offspring."_

"What do you mean?"

_"All the medical bills, the emotional trauma, the prescriptions, and now this-this whole organ transplant deal." _Gekido winced when the words "organ transplant" slipped out and Rin shot up like a lit firecracker.

"Organ transplant? Since when has a doctor said you needed one?"

_"Since a year ago,"_ she said slowly, like speaking too fast would light the fuse on a bomb.

"A year?" Rin ran her fingers through her hair. "A year—why, I mean why so long? Why are they making you wait so long?"

_"They can't find a donor that's compatible with me."_

"Gekido…" Small tears began to well up in Rin's eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"

_"Because I didn't consider it important."_

Rin crushed Gekido in a hug.

_Here we go,_ she thought with a sigh.

Rin began to cry hysterically, screeching incoherent words and nuzzling into Gekido's shoulder. Awkwardly, Gekido patted her back. People on the other end of the bathhouse began to look over at the pair suspiciously and Gekido tried to muffle Rin, or at least get her to cry quietly.

Rin's tears continued to spill over as she swore she would find her someone that was compatible even if it took her forever. The determination in her voice was duly noted by Gekido.

_I should have never said anything_, she thought somberly

"Just don't die before I find them ok?"

_"I can't promise th—"_

"Promise me you won't die!"

Rin's brown eyes were muddy with tears, a deep frown creased her face and her shoulders were still heaving with her uneven breaths.

Without thinking the words rolled off her tongue, _"I promise I won't die."_

It was mostly silent after that, Rin had relinquished her hold on her but had scooted closer to Gekido and was almost leaning against her as she babbled on about trivial things. Gekido would nod and sometimes interject her with a small comment but mostly remained silent. The tone of Rin's voice had notably changed from upbeat and positive to quiet and defeated. It bothered Gekido that news of her imminent death had affected Rin so much, she'd always kept her at arm's length and still Rin became attached to her. This was precisely the situation she was trying to avoid, but Rin was too sweet **not** become attached to someone.

_This is why I don't make friends…_

"Ichiraku opens next week."

_"I saw."_

"Obito really wants to go."

_"What about you?"_

"I'm not as excited."

_"It's dumb to be excited over ramen."_

Rin laughed. "That's what Kakashi said."

Gekido frowned.

"You two are more alike than you think."

_"I am nothing like Kakashi,"_ she seethed.

Rin just laughed again.

_"I need a break."_

The heat was becoming unbearable on Gekido's body. Her lungs were beginning to burn and the air was feeling thinner and thinner the longer she stayed inside the bath.

Gekido lifted herself with great difficulty onto the slick stone ground and breathed a sigh of relief as she felt the heat evaporate off her body.

"Too hot?"

_"Do you considered boiled to be too hot?"_

"Maybe just a little bit..."

Gekido leaned back against the frigid metal of her oxygen tank and stared at the marshmallow like clouds in the baby blue sky. She didn't want to say it out loud, but as she sat, staring at the blue sky she could feel herself deteriorating. She bit her lip as pain began to erupt in her chest, like someone had stuffed hot coals into her alveolus and then took a sledge hammer to her rib cage.

_Have to stay quiet...don't want Rin to cry all over my shoulder again..._

* * *

"I'm glad you came with us today," said Rin, who had finally begun to emerge from her depression.

_"Whatever."_

Gekido was sprawled out on the grass, barefoot with her kimono scrunched up around her mid-thighs, talking to Rin while waiting for the boys to finish soaking in the bathhouse. Rin, sporting her usual ninja attire, sat next to Gekido with her back against the wheelchair and her hair pinned back.

"That kimono is lovely. Who got it for you?'

_"Mother did."_

"It looks expensive."

_"It was."_

"It looks good on you."

_"That's a funny joke."_

"I'm serious! You look pretty in it."

_"I find that hard to believe with a tube bulging in my throat."_

"You don't even notice it," Rin assured.

_"Bullshit."_

"I'm serious—hey, look there they are!"

Minato and the three stooges were walking towards the girls and if Gekido was seeing correctly, Obito had a large welt on the top of his head.

_What did he do now? _

Obito walked forward with his head down and Kakashi's face, although mostly covered, had pink tints.

_"What the hell did he do?"_

"I, uh, slipped on the ground and hit my head on the bench."

"No you didn't, you we—" Obito slapped his hand over Kakashi's mouth.

"Was running, is what he was going to say." He chuckled nervously.

Rin, Gekido, and Minato looked between the antsy Obito and irritated Kakashi with a raised eyebrow.

Kakashi shoved Obito off him. "He was peeking into the women's bathhouse."

"Shut up Kakashi!" Obito staggered to his feet.

"That's where you two were?" Minato asked, shocked and with a hint of shame.

_"You little nobody!" _Gekido roared.

Sensing the looming aura behind him Obito froze and slowly craned his neck to the raging Gekido. Her eyes were burning, her legs firm on the ground as she stomped towards him, like a Tyrannosaurus Rex lumbering in for the kill. Her mask had been removed, by her own hand, and her teeth were bared, her canines glinting dangerously in the light.

"Please have mercy!" Obito begged as he dropped into a kneeling position.

_"There's no such thing as mercy," _Gekido rasped.

"You shouldn't be upset—"

_"Excuse me?"_

"You should be proud, I mean—" Obito blushed. "You have a pretty nice rack for a sick girl."

Everyone's jaw dropped. As if trying to divert the attention from himself he immediately threw Kakashi under the bus.

"Besides, Kakashi was looking too!" he said, pointing an accusing finger in Kakashi's direction.

Kakashi's face flared tomato red. "I only saw because you tricked me!"

"No, I didn't!" Obito countered.

"You told me there were rogue ninjas about to attack them! You lied!"

"I didn't lie! I just stretch the truth a little!" Obito lied lamely.

"That's lying!" Kakashi shouted looking ready to punch his idiot teammate.

"No, it isn't!"

_"I'm going to rip your throat out!" _Gekido screeched, barely restrained by Rin.

"You'll hurt yourself!" Rin shouted over the feuding boys and the livid Gekido.

_"Let me go!"_

Minato watched the chaos from the sidelines and sighed.

"It's like matches and dynamite," he said as Gekido broke free of Rin's hold and made a staggering dash towards Obito.

Before Kakashi could do the honors, Gekido tackled Obtio to the ground and landed a solid punch on his cheek.

"Get her off me!" he cried.

Gekido landed another slap to his cheek before Kakashi ran forward and pulled her off Obito. She was bucking and flailing like a rodeo bull on steroids.

"I know Obito's an idiot but he's not worth it." Kakashi tried to placate her.

_"Let me go!"_

"He's learned his lesson!"

_"He hasn't even begun to learn anything!"_

Ten minutes of spitting curses and death threats later, Gekido ran out of energy, slumping in Kakashi's arms and breathing heavily like she'd ran a marathon.

_ Of course_, Kakashi thought. _She's not use to this much physical exertion._

Gekido felt something snap in her lungs and winced as she felt her chest tightening into knots.

Kakashi gently lifted her in his arms and walked over to her wheelchair, the sound of her sharp inhaling and blatant struggle for air alerted everyone around her. He felt panic rise in his throat but didn't let it show, instead he hurriedly helped Gekido with her oxygen mask.

"Relax." He swallowed thickly.

_"I can...do it...myself…"_

"You're too weak and you need to focus on your breathing."

Rin watched worriedly as Kakashi sat her down in the wheelchair. Gekido's lungs were locking up, the constriction in her chest increasing and becoming unbearable. She felt like her alveoli were going to explode under the pressure.

Kakashi turned towards Rin. "Can you stabilize her breathing with your healing jutsu?"

"No," she said as she rummaged through the basket on the bottom of the wheelchair. "We need her inhaler."

Kakashi turned around and glared at Obito, who was beside himself with concern

"Is she going to be ok?" Obito asked quietly.

_"Killing you...is officially...on my...bucket list!"_

Rin was the one to answer him. "She's going to be fine, as soon as I find her inhaler."

With an "Ah-hah!" Rin grabbed the inhaler and rushed over to Gekido, stripping off her oxygen mask and inserting the mouth piece of the inhaler into her mouth. She pressed down on the canister and Gekido's chest swelled.

"Feel better?" Rin asked as soon as Gekido exhaled.

_"Yes." _Her voice was hoarse.

Everyone relaxed and turned to glare at Obito. His eyes darted between everyone.

"I didn't mean to—I—how was I supposed to know she'd have some kind of respiratory attack?"

_"I didn't know piglets knew big words like _respiratory._"_

"HEY!"

"Enough you two!" Rin interjected. "You two are going to be the death of each other!"

_"Oink, oink piggy."_

* * *

**THANK YOU SO MUCH TO MY BETA! Once again you've done a wonderful job!**

**Here's chapter 3 you guys, i really hope you enjoy it and i hope that i've kept everyone in character! Please review and let me know things i could improve on or what i did right.**

**To those who have previously reviewed i thank you from the bottom of my heart, i hope i continue to entertain you with my fic :)**


	4. The Rain

Today was a day that Gekido could, for once, say she was truly enjoying.

Freshly out of a bath and with her hair pinned back, Gekido sat calmly in her chair watching the birds sing sweetly to each other and enjoying the feel of the breeze on the exposed skin of her face. There was no Obito, no Rin, and no arrogant Kakashi, much to her mother's dismay.

"It's a beautiful day today!" her mother said as she picked fresh berries from a nearby shrub.

Gekido's mother had an obsession with the organic life and since they didn't have a backyard, her mother adopted the section of the forest close to their home, her personal garden. Her mother spent hours laboring over the stubborn ground and cultivated the land to grow more than just herbs—fruits, vegetables, herbs of all kinds and things that Gekido couldn't even place in either of those three categories. Her mother swiped her forehead with a handkerchief.

"Gecko, honey," she cooed.

_"What?"_

"How much is it to hire a team of genin?"

_"I don't fucking know."_

"Language!"

Gekido rolled her eyes.

Her mother frowned and laid the basket of berries on Gekido's lap.

_"Why?'_

Her mother adjusted her sun hat. "Because the crop is big this year and my arthritis is acting up. I might need help with the harvest."

A dangerous twinkle in her mother's eye sent a chill down Gekido's spine. A smile composed of pure mischievousness stretch across her face as she leaned down next to her daughter.

"Do you think you could get Kakashi to do it for free?" she whispered.

Gekido's eyes narrowed. _"No, he holds himself at too high a standard to be persuaded into free labor and I would never even think about talking him into it. I'd rather get dirty and do the work myself."_

"Come on." Her mother nudged her with a wink. "Boys will do anything for a kiss from a pretty girl!"

Gekido recoiled violently. _"I would NEVER lower myself to kissing that cocky little worm!"_

Her mother laughed and patted her shoulder. "Relax, I was only kidding."

Gekido glared at her mother. _"What a comedian you are,"_ she sneered.

_It's enough that peacock has seen me…_ Gekido swallowed thickly_, naked..._

"Oh!" Her mother perked up. "I almost forgot to tell you! Your father will be home in a couple days."

Gekido felt her heart leap. _"I thought he wasn't supposed to come back until next year?"_

"Your father was injured severely and needs to be escorted to the Konoha hospital where he will be staying until his full recovery."

Gekido's palms were sweaty. _"What happens…after he heals?"_

"He stays home, with us." Her mother smiled.

_"What about the front lines…?"_

"They're doing fine on their own I guess."

The Hokage had sent her father off to battle before her sixth birthday, long before the disease ravaged her, and she hadn't seen him since. She felt nervous; she hardly remembered the man and she faintly wondered if he would be disgusted by her lack of perfect health. She rubbed her enlarged throat and her mother noticed. Her mother leaned down and hugged her tightly.

"Oh, honey," she said. "Being sick won't change his view of you, you know that right?"

Gekido was silent.

"You'll always be that rambunctious little girl running around with her daddy's headband on."

_"I never did that!"_

"Oh yes you did, you would even put on his flak jacket!"

_"Lies!"_

"Don't make me get the pictures!"

_"Those pictures are faked!"_ she hissed.

"Rin didn't seem to think so."

_"Rin is no more intelligent than the average snail." _Gekido snorted.

"Well than should I ask a smarter individual?"

_"I'd like to see you find one."_

"Kakashi seems pretty smart."

_"I'll kill you!"_

Her mother's laugh echoed in the empty forest and Gekido frowned. The one thing Rin would never let her live down, were the black and white snapshots of her younger self swimming in the oversized flak jacket with the crooked head band wrapped around her head.

Her mother smoothed Gekido's hair back and kissed her forehead.

_"Does he know I'm sick?"_

"He does sweetie," she spoke while tucking hair behind Gekido's ear. "He's excited to see you. He misses you a lot."

Gekido said nothing and folded her hands in her lap.

_Maybe she just needs to let this sink in,_ her mother thought and kissed her daughter's forehead once more before returning to her plants.

Gekido stared at her lap and felt a small pinch of excitement in her weak heart. Her father wasn't the most detestable of people, but he was practically a stranger. If not for the faint memories she retained, she wouldn't know him at all. Gekido didn't even remember what he looked like.

_"I'm going for a walk."_

"Oh, be safe honey."

Gekido, with the basket of raspberries still in her lap, wheeled herself around her mother's plants until she reached a thin overgrown path winding through the trees that led to a pond fed by a river. It was a small, quaint area that Gekido often went to when the stupidity of the world had become too much to handle. The soft smell of the daffodils growing around the pond relaxed her and after yesterday's attack, relaxation was definitely something Gekido needed to invest in.

She wheeled herself along the path, stopping every once and a while to tear off the wild thorns and vines curling and becoming entangled in the wheels. The sunlight had begun to dim, hiding behind the thick clouds and casting a shadow over the forest.

That's when she saw it.

Just peeking above the distant tree line was a flash of blue light and a loud crash. Birds flew away as a tree fell with a resounding boom onto the ground.

Gekido could feel the earth under her rumble. _"What the hell?"_

* * *

Gekido pulled up behind a large tree and peeked around the corner. There, panting and sweating was Kakashi, his hand blistered and singed with smoke curling off his fingertips. Gekido stayed silent as she watched him stand and walk to a nearby river where he dipped his hand into the cold stream, he hissed but didn't remove his hand. Gekido raised her eyebrow and silently studied the surroundings. Whole patches of grass were reduced to charcoal and one tree had been bisected down the middle.

_"What the hell did you do?"_

Kakashi's face snapped towards her, his eyes wide with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Her hair was messy and her eyes were wild as they took in the damage. _"What did you do?"_ she screeched.

Kakashi stood up, cradling his injured hand and passively answering with a single word, "Training."

_"Training? Training Kakashi? It looks like someone let loose a fucking dragon!"_

Gekido combed her hair with her boney hand.

"That's not my problem."

She didn't know whether to be impressed by his power, intimidated by his brutality, or pissed at his lack of consideration for the wildlife.

_What kind of jutsu does he have?_

Whatever it was, it was powerful enough to smote the surrounding area and obliterate a full grown looked down at his hand and slightly cringed, the skin was lobster red and peeling.

_"What the fuck happened to your hand?"_

"My jutsu," he explained. "It hasn't been perfected yet."

_"What kind of prodigy gets hurt by his own jutsu?" _She snickered.

Kakashi's bored eyes looked at her irritated.

"What are you doing here?"

_"None of your damn business."_

Kakashi sighed. "Bitter as ever," he muttered under his breath.

_"What was that?"_

"Nothing."

Kakashi reached into his ninja tool's pouch, pulled out a large bandage roll and wrapped his damaged hand silently.

Gekido plopped a berry into her mouth and chewed slowly.

Something shiny caught Kakashi's eye and when he looked down he saw the colorful labels of numerous snack foods of all shapes and sizes barely fitting inside the basket of the wheelchair.

_How can her mother afford all of this...?_

Gekido's endless appetite had always amazed him considering how little she weighed and the sheer quantity of the food she consumed. She scarfed down food like a full-grown man who hadn't eaten in weeks, the basket of berries might as well have been mice in the eyes of a lion. However, talking about her large appetite was taboo, as Obito found out all too quickly. The welt on his cheek didn't go away for weeks.

Kakashi shook his head.

"Rin's not too far from here…if you're looking for her."

_"I'm not."_

"Then you should go home." He pointed to the sky. "It's about to rain and I don't want to carry you back home if your chair gets stuck in the mud."

The clouds had become fat and heavy in the sky; their gray bodies blocked the sunlight and a shade fell over the pair.

Kakashi couldn't see because of Gekido's mask, but the corner of her lips turned upwards.

_Splat!_

The first raindrop slid down Gekido's pale forehead, down the bridge of her nose and dripped off the end of her mask. As the rain began to pour all the color seemed to have vanish, as if the rain had coated everything in a shade of gray, but when Kakashi looked at Gekido her eyes were still a vibrant green. Those orbs glowed brilliantly in the monotonous gray, teeming with life and with a cold fire in them.

"Your mother will be worried if you don't get home soon."

_"She's always worried about me no matter what I do."_

"You'll get sick."

_"I'm already sick."_

She seemed content in that little chair and seeing that girl content was no less rare than seeing a unicorn on a sunny day.

A cool breeze blew by carrying the scent of wet bark and grass through the air.

_"What are you still doing here?" _she asked.

"What?"

"_You said you were going home."_

Why was he still there?

"Rin would kill me if she found out I left you here alone in the rain."

_"Since when did you care what other people thought?"_

"I don't."

_"You don't make any sense."_

Kakashi wasn't making any sense to himself either.

Gekido pushed his existence out of her mind and watched the rain fall in slow motion. She hoped the lid of her coffin was as comforting as the blanket of the dark clouds above her.

_I want to be buried in the rain._

The distant patter of rain was the beat of music thrumming in her ears, but to Kakashi, it sounded more like angels crying.

* * *

"Oh my goodness! You're soaking wet!" Gekido's mother cried as Kakashi pushed her though the front door. Her mother rushed to the closet and pulled out two or three thick blankets.

_"I'm fine."_

Her mother tore the soaking blankets off her and wrapped her legs and shoulders in fresh dry ones. "You could've gotten sick!"

_"I fail to see what difference getting sick would have made."_

"You know your immune system can't handle another illness!"

_"Either way, it's the same end result."_

Her mother looked her dead in the eye. "Don't you _ever_ talk like that."

Gekido rolled her eyes.

"Thank you for bringing my little Gecko home again Kakashi."

"Don't mention it."

She handed Kakashi a blanket as well. "You must be cold. Do you want me to get you some dry clothes?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No, I should probably be going home."

No sooner than after the words had left his mouth did a loud crack of thunder lit up the living room.

Gekido's mother shook her head "You can't be going out in this weather! You stay right here!" She wrapped the blanket around Kakashi's shoulders and led him over to the sofa.

"I'll get you some warm clothes, and then I'll make you two some hot cocoa." Her mother smiled and left the room before Kakashi could protest.

He swallowed thickly. _If Obito ever found out I stayed here…_

He fingered the floral blanket around his shoulders awkwardly.

Gekido glared at the spot her mother previously stood at and clenched her fists around the coffin of blankets. _Damn her._

No doubt at any moment her mother would walk out and her objective would be written all over her face. This wasn't just her kind nature, this was her sneaky way of trying to set up the two and thankfully, Kakashi hadn't noticed yet.

_This is going to be a long night, _she thought.

Gekido's mother walked out with a pile of clothes. "These are Gecko's father's from when he was young. They might be a little big on you."

Kakashi took the pile of clothes gratefully.

"You can change in the bathroom. It's down the hall to the left."

When Kakashi left the room, Gekido glared at her mother. _"Don't think I don't know what you're up to."_

Her mother smiled innocently. "What ever could you possibly mean?"

* * *

**Thank you to my beta!**

**Also thank you for all of those that reviewed last chapter i really appreciated the feedback! I only ask of you the usual, let me know if i'm keeping everyone in character or tell what you liked and didn't like in this chapter please.**

**I love you all and i hope to have the next chapter out by next week!**


	5. Ain't no party like a snowcone party

_Most mothers would be desperate to keep a boy out of their daughter's bedroom_, Gekido thought with a growl as her mother dragged a small mattress for Kakashi into her bedroom.

Protests from both sides of the party were ignored in favor of her mother's diabolical plan. The plan being sticking the young pair in a room together overnight and pray that they end up swimming in puppy love by the morning. Gekido felt her lungs burn at the idea.

_**Never.**_

Kakashi, who had changed into oversized pajamas, was awkwardly watching Gekido's mother smooth out the mattress and plop a few pillows and a large, thick blanket onto its surface. "If you get cold just come get me and I'll fish you out some more blankets."

"I think these will be enough," Kakashi said flatly.

Gekido's mother gasped. "Oh! I forgot I have a—a roast in the oven! I have to get it. Kakashi, will you be a dear and help Gekido into bed?" Her mother vanished through the doorway and down the hall in a matter of milliseconds.

Gekido bristled, imagining her mother falling off a cliff.

Kakashi swallowed thickly and shifted his eyes to the dark aura behind him.

_"Don't fucking touch me,"_ Gekido growled.

If the bags under her eyes had not been so heavy, Kakashi would've thought twice about going near the bitter female, but her posture was sagging and he could see the flutter of her eyelids as they struggled to stay open.

His onyx eyes hardened and he took a step towards Gekido. As soon as he reached for her, she swatted at his hands.

_"Get away from me!" _she snapped.

"Knock it off!"

_"Get off!"_

_"_You're making this harder than it needs to be!"

Kakashi, with one strong heave, quickly and carefully lifted a squirming Gekido out of her chair. Amidst her struggle, she reared her hand back and sent it flying into Kakashi's face with a loud smack.

He reeled in shock, his cheek bright red with a handprint. "_Ow!_ That hurts!"

_"Get your filthy shinobi hands off me!" _she screeched, pushing her arms against his chest.

Her strength was far greater than he anticipated and it threw Kakashi off balance so when he attempted to move towards her bed, his foot unknowingly caught under the oxygen tube and the pair was sent hurdling to the ground with a loud crash.

Gekido cried out in pain when her back slammed against the floor and the weight of Kakashi's body fell, full force, on top of her torso. The pain, like millions of red-hot coals nursed to a flame in her lungs, was overwhelming and almost enough to make Gekido pass out. However, she stayed strong, but her enflamed lungs throbbed in tune with her heartbeat.

_"Get—"_

She coughed violently, a small splatter of blood appearing in her oxygen mask.

_"Get off me,"_ she strained weakly.

Kakashi scrambled off her and glared at the tube that tripped him.

Gekido lay still on her back like a trampled bug.

_Damn it!_

He stood, mindful of the tubes coiling over the floor like snakes, and gently, once again, lifted Gekido off the floor. She didn't budge this time, but if he listened closely, he could have sworn he heard whimpers.

Kakashi laid her down on her bed, making sure her oxygen tube wasn't wrapped around her body as he covered her with a blanket.

Lightning flashed outside, illuminating the room for a split second and Kakashi quietly whispered to Gekido. "Are you alright?"

She was still for a moment before cracking one menacing eye at him. "_I am now, you clumsy bastard."_

Kakashi sighed in relief and sat down on his own little bed.

_Glad she's back to normal, _he thought.

_"No one hears about this,"_ she warned.

Kakashi looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "About what?"

_"About you sleeping in my house. If that Uchiha failure found out..."_

Simultaneously, Kakashi and Gekido felt their hearts stop. Obito would never let either of them live it down and what's worse was that that moron, with the mental capacity of an ape's, would assume the worst and blab about it. One person mistaking Kakashi for Gekido's boyfriend was enough.

"Agreed."

Gekido clutched at the covers and turned her head away from Kakashi and he couldn't help but think her hair looked a bit funny, like the hair on a cat when it's scared.

* * *

"Today is so beautiful, isn't it Gekido?"

_"Whatever."_

Once again, the day was sunny and Rin was on a break from training to attend to her _medical duties._

Gekido was sprawled out on the ground, her hair in chaotic disarray with her clothes in no better shape.

"You know I think you would look good with short hair."

Gekido grunted.

"No really, I think it would look nice."

_"So would Kakashi's head on a plate."_

Rin chuckled and playfully tapped Gekido on the shoulder. "You're really on his case, huh?"

_"No reason not to be."_

"You're too hard on him."

Gekido scoffed. _"I'm too hard on him?"_

Rin smiled sneakily. "You what they say about boys who bully girls?"

_"No."_

"They say that means a boy has a crush on that girl."

_"And this is __relevant __why?"_

"It works the other way around too."

Rin met Gekido's eyes and she understood immediately what was being said.

_"No,"_ she said strongly. _"Hell no."_

Rin stifled a laugh as she stared at Gekido's flustered face.

_"I would never!"_

"Relax Gekido, I was only kidding."

_"That's not funny," _she said, her eyes, like knives, stared sharply at Rin.

Rin shifted uncomfortably under the frigid stare of her friend and tried to derail the conversation into another direction. "So your dad is coming home tomorrow?"

_"Yes."_

"You must be excited."

Gekido shrugged, ignoring the flutter of butterflies in her stomach.

Rin struggled for another conversation starter; Gekido wasn't the easiest person to talk with. "Have you been taking your medicine?

_"Yes," _she gritted out, _"it's fucking disgusting."_

"It's not that bad…"

_"It tastes like horse piss," _she hissed.

"Language," Rin chastised gently.

_"Fuck off."_

Rin frowned deeply. "That's not very nice thing to say…"

Gekido deadpanned. _"Does it look like I care?"_

Rin sighed, but dropped the subject.

Gekido watched the clouds swirl in the sky with a strange feeling curling in her chest and she found herself questioning the existence of a higher being. And if a higher being existed, where would it decide she would go? The complex mysteries of religion were one of the few things that could keep her mind off the question she feared having an answer to.

_Does it hurt to die?_

Trivial things like haircuts and boys were mice in the eyes of a cat called death.

"You're going to burn if you don't put some sunscreen on," Rin said firmly.

_"Don't care."_

"But—"

_"Don't."_

"Do you want to be sun burnt?"

_"Does it matter?"_

"Yes!" Rin emphasized, "It's bad for your health Gekido!"

_"I fail to see how my health could possibly get any worse than it is."_

"Don't say that!" she said angrily, almost glaring at Gekido.

Gekido rolled her eyes and fixatedly watched the clouds dissipate. Undoubtedly, Rin reacted negatively at the lightest mention of Gekido's deteriorating health and frankly, she was beginning to wonder if Rin was in denial about her imminent death.

_I wouldn't be surprised…_

Rin would be optimistic enough to blind herself with denial. Luckily, Gekido was a realist so Rin's determination and unrealistic promises did not give her any false hope for an extended period of life. In fact, every time Rin made another promise she was reminded of her expiration date—her very unfair expiration date. The fat butterfingered brat down the street couldn't possibly deserve life more than Gekido, and yet, he would live on for another forty years. It was like a cruel joke, and her funeral was the punch line.

_I can't even function properly by myself._

"Hey, are you ok?"

Gekido blinked. _"Just peachy."_

"Are you sure? You looked kind of angry—"

_"I'm fine," _she interrupted sharply.

Rin flinched and let it go.

"Hey!"

Leaning over the fence in Gekido's backyard was—

"Obito? What are you doing here?" called Rin.

"Kakashi told me where you were!" He blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "I thought maybe we could hang out?"

"Obito, I'm a little busy."

Sparks electrified the air when Obito and Gekido made eye contact. Like a pouting child Obito stuck out his upper lip as he regarded his arch nemesis. "Hello wench."

_"Well, if it isn't the perverted failure. How's your cheek?"_

Obito visibly bristled. "How's your chest?"

Gekido glared. _"How's your shattered Uchiha pride?" _she spoke lowly, sending a chill down Obito's spine.

"Stop it you two!" Rin shouted, physically coming to a stand between the pair in an attempt to diffuse the tension.

Obito crossed his arms and huffed; his lack of attention caused him to teeter over the edge of the fence and fall face first into the ground.

Gekido felt the vibration from the impact travel through the ground. While Rin gasped and rushed to his aid, Gekido failed to suppress the laughter that bubbled in her chest. Even though it hurt, in a way, it felt good to laugh.

Rin and Obito looked on in astonishment.

Had Kakashi not been leaning against the other side of the fence and heard the laughter himself, he would have never believed the feat was possible.

Rin noticed something red out of the corner of her eye. "Oh my god, Obito, you're bleeding!"

Indeed, a thin line of blood trickled out of his swollen nose. Green chakra enveloped Rin's hands as she moved to heal him.

_"He really is a complete moron," _Gekido spoke, her laughter finally dying down.

"I am not!" Obito shouted from behind the hand trying to stop the flow of blood coming from his nose.

Rin lightly smacked his arm and told him to stop talking so she could heal his nose.

_"What do you want anyway?" _Gekido asked with a sneer, her attitude returning.

"He wanted to ask Rin to go with him to the snow cone stand outside the Konoha gate."

Gekido visibly jumped and whirled around to glare at Kakashi. As much as she wanted to rip him a new one for startling her, she felt an awkward sliver in the pit of her stomach when she looked at him, which effectively glued her lips shut so she just settled with a nasty look that he returned with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh!" Rin said with surprise, "That's sweet of you to offer but…" She looked over at Gekido who was fingering the sleeves of her black turtle neck with irritation. "...I really am busy with something else. I can't leave her alone."

Obito sniffed. "That's why I brought Kakashi," he said in a nasally voice. "So _Gecko"—_he mocked—"won't be alone."

It was Kakashi's turn to bristle. "You make it seem like a date."

Obito shrugged and wiped the blood off his lip with his sleeve, "Even you aren't that desperate."

That's when a baseball-sized rock smacked hard into Obito's already injured nose, restarting the flow of blood. He cried out loudly in pain and curled into the fetal position on the ground.

Kakashi pretended not to see it happen and when Rin sternly looked at Gekido, she met her gaze with a placid, innocent stare.

"That was rude," Rin chastised.

_"On the contrary, i think it was rather rude of him to step into the rock's intended path of travel."_

* * *

The stand was of average size. There was a large colorful sign on the front reading: "There ain't no party like a snow cone party," and Gekido wrinkled her nose at it.

_"You can't be serious?"_ she said lowly.

Obito ignored her and ran up to the stand to order cones for himself and Rin.

Kakashi turned to Gekido and asked her what she wanted and before she stubbornly refuse a snow cone from _him_, Rin said, "She likes coconut."

Kakashi nodded and walked over to the stand.

Gekido craned her neck to narrow her eyes at Rin who grinned in response. "Quit being so crabby. He's just trying to be nice."

_"Only because he owes me," _she muttered.

Rin pushed Gekido's chair next to a wooden bench where Rin sat down next to her. "You're not getting hot under your blankets, are you?"

_"I'm fine," _Gekido said, bored, leaning her head on her hand.

She looked at Obito with his swollen purple, blue nose and snickered. He was such a failure and Gekido wondered when Obito would finally get the message that Rin would never feel the same way about him as he did about her. Rin was stricken with someone else and Gekido knew there was no way he didn't notice the way she looked at Kakashi or the way she silently fawned over him.

_Heartbreak's__ a bitch,_ she thought coldly.

She looked up when Obito trotted over with two snow cones in his hands. He happily handed one to Rin before sitting beside her with romantic intent written all over his face.

Gekido rolled her eyes._ Moron._

She didn't even notice Kakashi had walked up to her and was handing her the snow cone until he nudged her arm. She took the snow cone with a_ very_ quiet thank you and began unstrapping the mask on her face.

Seeing this Obito inwardly cringed and his face started to turn green, a fact Gekido was becoming aware of. She opened her mouth wide and slowly pulled the mask away from her, making absolutely sure Obito could watch the large tube as she dragged it out of her throat.

Rin tried not to cringe as the tube caught her eye, Obito, however, was nearly crippled by his gag reflex.

"S-Stop!" Obito yelled right before he dry heaved.

In the distance, Gekido could see a mother gag and shield her child's eyes from the sight. She frowned and scoffed at her before wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

_Wimps..._

She took a large bite out of her snow cone and ignored the gagging Uchiha on the ground who struggled to regain his place on the bench. Rin was bent over trying to help him up and Kakashi was leaning against Gekido's chair watching Obito with irritation.

Gekido innocently ate her snow cone.

It took five minutes before Obito could eat anything or look at Gekido without gagging first.

_Pathetic..._ Kakashi and Gekido thought at the same time.

Obito regained his composure and ate his snow cone with whatever dignity he had left.

Gekido and Kakashi both felt like third and fourth wheels. It was mainly just Obito trying and failing to flirt with Rin while they watched. Rin did try to include them in the conversation, but the pair couldn't care less about what they talked about. In a nutshell, it was pretty much a date with two extra people on the side, who couldn't stand each other.

Pretty soon the mound of flavored shaved ice was gone and Gekido was left holding an empty styrofoam cup. With nothing left to distract her or placate her, she began to grow incredibly irritable.

She tapped her fingers on the arm of her wheelchair and sighed as she overheard Rin unknowingly reject Obito's advances.

_"Sometimes I swear he was dropped on his head as a child,"_ she muttered under her breath.

"Or thrown against the wall," Kakashi said beside her.

Kakashi was just as irritated with the situation as Gekido was. He didn't enjoy being strung along just so Obito could take Rin out when she was obviously happily busy with someone.

Obito had all the time in the world to be rejected by Rin, but from what he heard in the bathhouse, Gekido had less than a year left to live. Obito knew it too; Kakashi wasn't the only one eavesdropping that day.

* * *

"That was refreshing."

_"That was awful and it was a waste of my time."_

Rin chuckled. "You're always so negative Gecko. Try and smile once in a while?"

_"When I have something to smile about I'll let you know,"_ said Gekido, slumped in her chair.

Rin rolled her eyes and continued pushing Gekido down the street. For the afternoon, the streets were quite bare. When the pair reached Gekido's house her mother was out on the porch already waiting for her.

* * *

**Happy this finally got out? I'm so sorry for the wait, it kind of got a little writers block and it's kind of hard to function through those you know?**

**I hope you like this :)**

**Big thanks to my Beta!**


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